As technology in the gaming industry progresses, the traditional mechanically driven reel slot machines are being replaced with electronic counterparts having a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD) video displays or the like. These video/electronic gaming advancements enable the operation of more complex games, which would not otherwise be possible on mechanical-driven gaming machines. Gaming machines such as video slot machines and video poker machines are becoming increasingly popular. Part of the reason for their increased popularity is the nearly endless variety of games that can be implemented on gaming machines utilizing advanced electronic technology.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to video gaming machines such as a video slot machines and video poker machines. Some examples of these devices are lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play. After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game.
A dispute may occur, for instance, when a player believes an award for a game outcome was not properly credited to him by the gaming machine. The dispute may arise for a number of reasons including a malfunction of the gaming machine, a power outage causing the gaming machine to reinitialize itself and a misinterpretation of the game outcome by the player. Accordingly, there is a need to resolve the dispute.